I'm Slow, I Know...Get Over It

For those of you with spouses who run who are better runners than you, have you ever experienced the "you're not a real runner ignore" from anyone? I get this A LOT! My hubby and I will talk to other runners or the race director at a race or run and they will talk up a storm to him about all of his racing and his speed, but won't even turn an eye in my direction! My husband is so good about it though, he always tries to get me into the conversation, so it definitely isn't his fault! I have gotten used to it and now it just makes me laugh to see it happening. The person will literally look me up and down, just once, and when they see how "unfit" I am, they just turn off. Eh, screw 'em!

The reason why I mention this is because it happened to me this weekend at the race we did. The Lederhosenlauf 5k in St. Paul was pretty good. As I said in my previous post, this was the inaugural year for the race, so obviously there were some issues. It was a pretty warm day, though it was very beautiful outside. The race began on a slow decline to the St. Paul Cathedral and quickly went uphill on a steep slope up to Selby Ave where we ran for about a mile before the out and back turn around. There was no waterstop, which I have found is much more common in races I have run in the Twin Cities. I completely understand that there are many runners who do not need water to run 3 miles and I could usually go without it, but I think too often race directors forget about the walkers and back of the pack runners who really do need it. It didn't help that it was a hot day and there were quite a few walkers who looked like they really needed the liquid. We brought this up to the race director and at first he was totally against including one until I told him that the walkers probably could have used some water. He finally conceded to include one next time. After the race, runners were treated to one free Bier, one bratwurst (Weiswurst) and one salt bagel. Prizes were awarded to the first man and women to cross the finish line in German attire. The guy who won that prize even had on wool socks - ouch!!

For me the run was nothing special. I always go to a race thinking that there might be a possibility that this will be the race that I will put out my real running and finish with 10-11 minute miles! HA! I actually used to think that same way in school when I didn't study for a test - maybe I will just ace it without doing the work! I rarely did, so I don't know why I still think that way! I think I finished in like 41 minutes though, so that is about 13 1/2 minute miles. Not where I want to be at all. I really really want to improve my 5k time to 11-12 min miles. I know what I need to do (lose weight), I just haven't felt ready to do it yet! I also need to have a more consistent training pattern. My time to run is at night and that is so hard for me right now. It is so much easier to open up a cold one when I get home and enjoy the summer day! I would really like to try to get up early to run, but something about that makes me nervous. Oh someday I'll have all of this figured out!!